BeLOnGings

 

I have a friend who jokingly casts the calories out of the Pizza before digging into double cheese and pepperoni!

We still laugh…….but not so hard now…… as we have grown to realize the lack of integrity in our body of Christ!

The key scripture we cite at our FREEDOM! retreat is 1 Thess. 5:23,24 ” May God himself the God of peace, sanctify (marry) you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept sound at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who  calls you is faithful, and He will do it.”

Yes, “He will do it”, but He also tells us it is our responsibility to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil.2:12) Integrity is about integrating these three parts of our life – spirit, soul and body as having equal value. Our relationship with God comes first then our relationship with others, and then our relationship with this physical world which was declared ‘good’ by God at creation. We are equally responsible for all three.

If we are merely praying for supernatural healing of an arthritic knee in someone who is 350 lbs or for the healing of cancer in someone who will not forgive their mother we are living out of balance and without integrity.

I talked about how Ortho-miracular healing is the result of simply doing the next loving thing, but that needs to be toward God, toward  my neighbor and toward my own body.

The last one is particularly challenging as we now live in a world that has become a toxic sludge through greed empowered by science. 1 million plastic bottles discarded every minute contributing to a plastic island the size of Texas in the Pacific ocean graphically illustrates how dire things have become on the surface of our oceans, the growing Alzheimers epidemic how dire things have become in the depths of our brains.

We are encountering more and more people who are becoming aware of this……..and wanting to talk to us about going this ‘road less travelled’ to take steps to ‘naturally’ heal themselves and others. Steps on the road is a good metaphor as (intense) exercise is also an essential part of this way…….as my old rugby coach used to say, “No Pain, No Gain”

The other night Father lead me to the biblical foundation of Ortho-molecular-miracular healing in Psalm 103:5 (KJV)

“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

I believe this refers to what comes out of our mouths in the way of wholesome life-giving confession and conversation and also to do with what goes into our mouths in the way of life- giving ‘real’ food and drink that God has provided in creation.

As we have sought to go ‘Back to Eden” for our health, Father has graciously taught us how to live well in His world with what He has given (like this morning’s breakfast – ‘before and after’ shots above!)

I am glad to report that Hilary and I are in quite good health for our age. Ironically as we have paid the cost in time, money and effort to choose to live this way we have been unable to afford to pay premiums under the “Affordable Care Act”  However we aren’t concerned. It is years since we have felt the need to visit the doctor, and are happy to report that our double blind (faith) clinical trial has proven (to us at least) that Opapacare is far superior to Obamacare.

People who haven’t seen us for a while frequently say, “You don’t look a day older!” Papa’s promise is  even better than  that…...thy youth – renewed like the eagle’s : – ) 

P.S.

As I finished this blog and walked out of the study I noticed a book our grandson Ravi had set on the hall table. His Dad has been training him in healthy living. I’ve mentioned before how George is our heavenly Father’s name (John 15:1 “my Father is – “georgos” The Greek word from which we get the English name George)

Thank you Father for confirming the timeliness of this blog : – )

 

 

P.P. S.

Our (budget) Breakfast smoothie.

Already in the blender: 

Avocado (bought with 47 others at Aldi’s when 89 cents and kept in fridge)

Donated coconut milk (after ‘best before’ date but still OK)

Still to come, from the left:

Raw Milk Kefir (We are a ‘drop off’ point for the farm for this ‘vilified’ healthy drink which cannot be bought retail in Minnesota!)

Chia seeds (Costco bulk)

Dr Mercola’s protein powder (bought on sale)

Organic berries (Costco bulk buy)

Cacao nibs (Thrive market sale – best price)

Pumpkin seeds and Pecan nuts….. both soaked and then dehydrated to improve taste and nutrient absorption.

Oh yes, and the topping? A few Ningxia berries from Young Living

P.P.P.S.

Thank you Barry for writing to ask after last week’s blog “Did you meet them?” meaning Joe and Sue who had called while we were out. Well yes, last Sunday they came to the Twin Cities again and this time we were at home and had a beautiful time of sharing about Joe’s healing, rejoicing crying and praying together.

They brought another story that was a great encouragement. Their son Joey as a ten year old was the one who provoked them to make the long journey to our house. One Sunday on leaving he turned to them and said, “If you had all the money of Donald Trump, you still wouldn’t have the peace that is in that house!” This was years before ‘THE Donald’ had risen to his current political prominence!….and so we eagerly anticipate the coming reign of “THE Prince of Peace”.……for “of the increase of His government and peace – there will be no end!” (Is.9:7)

 

 

 

The other day a friend trying to recall a particular healing modality, made a stab at it as “Ortho-miracular healing”

That got me thinking.

When we tell our story I always say that 38 years ago I left off practicing ‘conventional medicine’ but we have continued to be involved in God’s wider and deeper ‘healing’ practice.

I think Ortho-miracular healing would be a good way to describe how we approach it : – )

My friend was of course meaning  to say Orthomolecular healing.

Orthomolecular medicine describes the practice of preventing and treating disease by providing the body with optimal amounts of substances which are natural to the body.

Orthomolecular is a term that comes from ortho, which is Greek for “right,” and “molecule,” which is the simplest structure that displays the characteristics of a compound.

The simplest structure in this life which the bible calls a ‘walk’ is ‘the next step’.

We’re told “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal.5:6) So since Hilary and I bowed our knees as young people to Jesus as Lord, the ‘right’ next step has always been the step of loving obedience prompted by the faith of Christ within us. (Gal.2:20 KJV) We are on the same ‘simple’ life page at least in terms of our aspiration if not always performance!

So Ortho-miracular healing is the miracle of what happens when we just live life  doing “The next loving thing!”

These days I do quite a bit of dish washing at home. We also have a garden which needs tending…weeding and watering!

These tasks give plenty of reflective time, and I have realized that Brother Lawrence and Francis of Assisi  were also practitioners of Ortho miracular healing as one ‘practiced the presence of God’ amongst the pots and the pans and the other when asked what he would do if he were to die at sunset, replied he would simply continue hoeing his garden.

Setting about these ‘ordinary’ occupations in faith and with love transform them from ‘dull and mundane’ to ‘divinely charged’ training as sons and servants whose eyes are fixed on our heavenly Father as we are being prepared in this ‘earthly simulation’ to be united with our bridegroom at “the Marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Plenty of food needing harvested and dishes to be washed there!!

While we are told to “Set your hope fully on the grace to be given when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Pet.1:13) when we will put off mortality and put on immortality, we are given glimpses of how this way of “Ortho” living in the Spirit can bring “miracular healing” even here and now.

Last week while sorting some files I came across the Thank You card pictured above. Despite the fact that there were three handwritten pages inside, Hilary and I could only vaguely remember  Joe and Sue from Iowa, who God had brought into our lives briefly 13 years ago.

The puzzling card just lay there on my desk the rest of the week.

Then on Sunday night while we were out, our son Robin answered a knock at the door.

“Hello. We are Joe and Sue from Iowa. I’m sure your parents don’t remember us,  but 13 years ago we visited for a FREEDOM! retreat and they prayed for Joe who was suffering from serious chronic bipolar mental illness. After we went home we went to his psychiatrist and asked if he could come off his medication. He did and he has been healed and in his right mind ever since! We just wanted to call and say how profoundly grateful we were!”

I still only remember a little about that encounter, but I assume we just did, “The next loving thing”

……..as practitioners of Ortho miracular healing! : – )

 

 

 

On the 27th Hilary and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary with a bike ride. We paused for a selfie when we noticed this house number. If you are one of our contemporaries this is where you go to find your glasses to read it  : – )

I had also pulled to a halt earlier when my cap blew off. There in front of me on the trail was my friend Joe who walks the same trails daily and is always game for a chat. As Hilary arrived with my retrieved cap, I introduced them and mentioned to Joe, “This is our 42nd anniversary.” He replied, “We’re 44, or is it 45 years married?” He then quipped, “Less time for murder!”

The day after, I was murdering our tomato plant…..well not really. A friend had shared the secret of how to greatly increase the fruit by pinching off the ‘suckers’

Jesus promises us that this is how he will prune our lives as his disciples because he is only satisfied with good fruit that ‘will remain’ (Jn.15.1-17) 1 Corinthians 13 describes this fruit that ‘will remain’ (v.13) as ‘faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love”

We live in a high tech world at a time when ‘suckers’ abound….those distractions that are continually assailing us so that we loose our focus and our peace. A medical diagnosis of “anxiety” is now 5 times as common as a diagnosis of cancer. “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is staying on you because he trusts in you.” (Is.26:3) Consistently focusing on the ‘one thing’ that really matters – keeping in step with the Spirit and living a life of love, is the pathway to peace

I came in from my gardening meditation and noticed a job in the kitchen that needed done…. so set about loving my wife. When she realized what I was up to she said, “Here, there’s a better way to do that………”

She was right….. My reaction was wrong.

You see love is manifested not only in action but in reaction – that is why it is first of all ‘patient‘ (in reaction) and ‘kind’ (in action). Thankfully love is the fruit of His Spirit, not of our effort!

As we turned from the gateway of 4242 we noticed this sign on the lawn in front:

I’m more and more thankful for these years of learning to love my closest neighbor

It’s not “Less Time For Murder” but “More Time To Die” as Hilary and I each learn to live more fully in God’s unconditional covenant love as by faith we embrace one another’s differences and weaknesses, as gifts in that one who has been gifted to us, and who we are growing to love more and more each day, even as we are together being conformed to Christ.

“….he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.(Heb.12:2 Msg.)

P.S. The children of Israel crossed over into their ‘promised land’ inheritance to make their 42nd encampment.

Every time I see this Guinness poster (in the Restroom of the Anchor fish and chips restaurant : -) I’m reminded of one of the prophet Bob Jones’s strories from the time when he died and got a glimpse into the afterlife. He described a conveyor belt moving toward the lake of fire on which people were wrapped in dollar bills or inside a whisky bottle –  literally bound in the thing that had been their god in this life.

To me the most sob-ering verse in the bible is Ezekiel 14:4

“Therefore, speak to them and tell them: This is what the Lord GOD says: When anyone from the house of Israel sets up idols in his heart, puts a sinful stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I, Yahweh, will answer him appropriately. I will answer him according to his many idols,” (Holman)

To me this verse is sob-ering because the people think all is well. God is answering our prayers and blessing us and giving us what we want. But we are deceived because our prayers are being shaped by the idols of our hearts.

We can read into the cartoon above……the alcoholic’s foolish eyes fixed on the next drop thinking that it will bring the joy which he is so desperately searching for but denying the reality that it is harming everyone around him and is himself a prisoner, totally paralyzed in his being from the mouth down! The idol of his heart is obvious.

However, as Richard Rohr points out in his book Breathing Under Water, we are in fact all addicts, for addiction is simply a modern term for what the bible calls sin. and sin is where we let anything control us and hinder us from being liberated fully into our true identity as children of God. It could stand for Stuck In Navel gazing.

These idols as I said last week can be the good things that God has given me like my friends or family, my church or ministry, my work or hobbies my health or home, my opinions or ‘success’……and I can believe that there is nothing wrong because God is blessing me and answering my prayers and there’s no obvious ‘fall out’ as there is with the alcoholic……..unaware that he is answering me according to what has become the idol of my heart. “Sure” he says, “Name it and claim it – I’ll give you what you want!” (or rather, like the alcoholic, what you mistakenly think you want.)

This is why we need to cry with the psalmist and sing with Carol Pardoe on the Good Mornin’ Dad album

Search me and know my heart,

Try me and know my thoughts.

Pluck out any wicked way in me;

In your presence let me stay;

Make me willing to obey;

Restore to me the joy of my salvation 

…………and then be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit reveals.

“You shall have no there gods before me…..” is the first commandment of the Old Covenant, that in the New Covenant becomes the first promise of what God will do……..as we are asking and allowing Him to cleanse our hearts.

This week at our home fellowship, our daughter Abby and her husband Stephen who are visiting shared about their last year which began with someone proposing to them they join another couple in pioneering a church plant in Belfast city centre. Abby described how she had become very comfortable with the solid church family that had adopted her in exile from her family here and how initially she sobbed at the prospect of losing this earthly treasure. But Father worked on their hearts, until they agreed it was his plan that they should take this step of faith.

She shared about the subsequent grace that had flowed as they had surrendered the ‘heart idol’ of personal comfort. As she spoke about one new friend’s life that had been totally transformed after they made the move a different kind of tear began flowing from her and Stephen’s eyes as they sobbed….tears of joy – sharing in heaven’s celebration!

I received an email after last week’s blog from a friend who I regard as a seasoned and mature brother. It illustrates how this journey to Zion’s joy along the highway of holiness – is indeed lifelong:

Paul, this blog was a special encouragement as I was praying the very day it arrived regarding a frustration in my soul and the Lord was taking me to Psalm 87. I began to sing some of the “old” songs of Zion.  “All my streams of joy are in you”!    “Let’s go up to Zion”!  Oh how I long to find ALL of my streams of joy in Him and yet how easy it is for me to look in other places.  Thanks for your blog and I am heading on Zion’s highway of joy today. Blessings. Brian.

 

 

 

Hilary has what her mother called, “expensive feet” They are long, narrow and dare I say, “elegant” It seems that the US shoe manufactures have no room for such ‘royal feet’ so every time we go to Europe Hilary is on the look out for shoes that fit her aristocratic tootsies !

This year her initial foray amongst the shoe shops of Utrecht with her Dutch friend Loes, yielded nothing, however at the “Bishops” in Coleraine, she and Carolyn, her Irish accomplice found the shoes! What’s more they were reduced to half price – only 35 pounds.

On our return to the Netherlands Hilary thought she’d try again only to find that now the sales were on in Utrecht! This time I went with her, and low and behold, we found another pair…also half price….and the equivalent of 35 pounds. “Thank you Father for the double blessing!”

This confirmed a sense I had been getting about Isaiah 35 which inspired a song years ago entitled,  “Come up onto the Highway of the Lord”. It began, “There is a way of holiness……for all those who love the Lord our God.”

The chapter begins,

“Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and flower – Like the crocus in spring bursting into blossom, a symphony of song and color.” (Msg)

I mentioned a few weeks ago how we witnessed this blossoming in the hedgerows of both Ireland and England. Then when I came home I stumbled across this article.

Isaiah 35:1 Prophecy Coming to Pass—Are We on the Brink of Jesus’ Return? — Charisma News

I believe there is a final invitation going out for the “wedding feast”. Most we’re told will fail to respond, not because they are ‘bad’ people, but simply because as in the parable in Luke 14;16-24 they have lost focus and become distracted with ‘good things’ like homes, ( “I have just bought a field”) families (“I have just married a wife!”) and careers (I have just bought five yoke of oxen!”)

To come up onto the Highway of Holiness we must be willing to leave everything to take the next step up as part of that joyful ‘in step with the Spirit’ company, “in whose hearts are the highways to Zion” or as the Message puts it,

“How blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; they wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God- traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn – Zion! God in full view!” (Ps.84:5-7)

In England we met a family who had recently, like us, left a successful career, family and home (in Cape Town, South Africa) to follow the Lord to a little British country village…… however the next step does not have to be something that seems ‘religious’ or ‘heroic’….. It may be just going to the shops to help your friend find a pair of shoes……or even going with your wife to the shops to help her find a pair of shoes  : – ))

On waking each morning my mother used to commit each ‘ordinary’ day to the Lord, in order that He might make it ‘extraordinary’ by praying from Psalm 25:4.5,
“Let me know you ways, O Lord; Teach me your paths.
Guide me in Your truth and teach me,
For you are the God of my salvation;                                                                                                       For You (and only You) I wait (expectantly) all the day long.” (Amp.)

This is the constant heart disposition of that “redeemed” company…..

“See laughter and joy running past
Sorrow and sighing flee away
Weeping may come, but she won’t last
In the morning there’s joy……here to stay!”

So “Vote With Your Feet” –

Come up unto the Highway of the Lord………and together we’ll go in

 

On Saturday, 3rd June, we were lead to Norwich.

On Sunday we heard how that day in London 3 Islamic extremists had driven into the pedestrians on London Bridge and then went on a killing rampage with knives, leaving 8 dead and 48 wounded. Following a similar incident at Westminster and the Manchester bombing this was the third such “attack” on England within a few months.

The words of a well known nursery rhyme started playing in my head,

London bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down,

London bridge is falling down

My fair lady

As children we played a circle game to the song that then continued. “Build it up with wood and hay” Apparently there are several more verse each using a different and stronger material to try and establish the bridge…..but all without success.

A few days later Father began speaking to me about the connection between what we were doing in Norwich that day and what was happening in London

That Saturday afternoon we had ended up at the far end of Norwich Cathedral behind and below the elevated chair on which the human bishop would sit. There we found the icon pictured above.

Notice how it depicts the resurrected Jesus standing on the cross holding the hands of Adam and Eve who are being drawn up out of death and Hades. Jesus is standing on the cross. This, God’s bridge, is the only hope for the redemption of all of creation (Rm.8:21) including mankind, for “As in Adam all have died, so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor.15:22).

As we drove through England the word PRIDE kept cropping up on notices, being claimed by everyone from the British farmers to the parking lot owners! It reminded me of the verse in Psalm12:8 which talks about the generation “when what is vile is exalted among the human race.” The Great Sin, as Lewis described it, was being flaunted!

In his book “The Harbinger” Jonathan Kahn points out how when the same London Bridge ‘terrorism’ was said to bring down the Twin Towers in New York the words of Is.9 were quoted by American political leaders at a ceremony at the site,”We will rebuild…we will replant” (v.11) Looking however, at the context of those words in scripture, we find a defiant people who are under God’s judgment because of “PRIDE and arrogance of heart.” (v9)

Gazing at the icon in that humble, hidden corner, Hilary and I once again began to sing to the Lord Jesus,”…we proclaim You are King – of England.”

The inevitable success of God’s bridging work to establish his kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy on earth in this song seemed to stand in contast to the futility of human efforts and scheming expressed in the sad little ditty …..”London bridge is falling down…”

As we walked out of the cathedral I noticed a statue at the western door of the only person I knew, or rather knew of, from Norwich – the ‘fair lady’ Julian! She had lived in the city hundreds of years earlier as a Christian mystic. She is well known for her book describing her visions, “Revelations of Divine Love”, and most, for the words Jesus spoke to her, as she contemplated His cross, that in the end,

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well” 

 

P.S. Lovely to get this resonating email from our Thai missionary friends after last week’s blog,

 

Historically, Ireland, England and Holland are closely connected. The choice of the Dutch prince William of Orange as King of England, following Henry VIII’s falling out with Rome established the Protestant ascendancy. So in Britain today we have a Queen who is the “supreme governor”of the Church of England and this year again in Northern Ireland on 12th July the “Orangemen” loyal to this earthly monarch will march to celebrate the victory of “King Billy” over James, the catholic contender for the throne, at the battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Last Sunday in the Netherlands we met our Dutch friend who also happens to be called Wilhelm. He shared how he had recently been lead to go to Ireland and on Tara Hill, the ancient site for the coronation of the Irish Kings, to proclaim Jesus as King. He said when they had done this there was the most powerful downpour with thunder and lightening.

On Tuesday, our last day in Holland we arranged to meet with friends at the Dom in Utrecht city center. Utrecht is the Ecclesiastical capital of Holland. The Dom tower is the tallest church tower in the nation and the enormous church building, the Reformed ‘cathedral’. As we walked into the open square between the tower and the church, created when a tornado destroyed the nave in 1674, suddenly, and ‘out of the blue’ a powerful mighty wind began to blow. Everyone ran for cover. Hilary and I spontaneously at the top of our voices began singing “Lord Jesus We enthrone you we proclaim you are King……..Come Lord Jesus and take Your place”

Both Wilhelm and we recognized that our prayers were simply the last in a long line stretching back to the day of Pentecost in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. In fact the day we arrived in Holland on this Pentecost weekend our friend Ad showed us a video he had taken that morning of 60,000 diverse Dutch believers making the same proclamation and prayer as they sang with one voice that same song!

The number reminded me of Is.60, “Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen on you. For behold darkness covers the land deep darkness on the minds of the people. But the Lord will rise upon you and his glory will be upon you and all nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

On our assignment, there were signs not only in the heavens but also on the earth.

As we paused on our way through (London)Derry in Ireland I happened to wander into the place in the city where the latest round of age old sectarian bloodshed had started. Interestingly I noticed it was in the wake of the killing of a man in the city called……. William King!

Never had our friends there seen such a display of white hawthorn blossom as we witnessed this May captured in the photo above, taken in Donegal….Another line from Isaiah came to mind, “If your sins are blood-red they shall be snow-white.”(Is.1:18 Msg.)

As we had then driven through England we had also been struck with the abundance of wild pink roses in every hedgerow. I thought of the Wars of the Roses where much blood was shed in the fighting between the two English Houses of York and Lancaster, represented by the white and red roses. When white and red come together….you get pink, which also happens to be the color of restoration.

Our final stop in England was in the university city of Cambridge. There are only a handful of parking spaces in this densely packed historic city centre, but “Thank you Father….there’s our space!”

We got out of the car and looked up. We were on King Street! Once again Hilary and I burst into song “Lord Jesus we enthrone you. We proclaim You are King…..Come Lord Jesus and take Your place.”

An hour later with time running out to get to the airport we enlisted the help of our lady friend on Google Maps to get us out of this maze of streets. From a bygone era when God was more honored (at least in name) in these high places in the land, she made heaven’s declaration over England.

“Turn right onto Jesus Street”

No matter what will be declared tonight after the British election any more than what was declared recently after the American and the Dutch elections, God has made His declaration:

“I have set my King in Zion, my holy hill” (Ps.2:6)

The receiving of Jesus as King into our hearts and His coming again to the whole of His creation in time and space will herald the healing of all of our human brokenness and ultimately the restoration of all things.

The fact that it was declared to us on this trip by God’s voice in creation, both from heaven and earth, heightens the sense we shared as we set out that, “Now is the Time”

The Kyles in America will have a different celebration this 12th July as it just happens to be the birthday of two of our grandsons!… Ravi Paul Padraig, and Winston Paul. Ravi is Indian for Sun/Son. I don’t need to say what nationality the name Winston conjures up and Padraig is of course an Irish name. Paul means “small.”

It is when we humble ourselves that the two are made one….in The Son.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God by the cross by which he put to death their hostility.” (Eph.2:14-16)

P.S. When we arrived home we discovered Gilbert had just attended a wedding in O’Neill, Nebraska. Interestingly the O’Neils where the leading Irish chiefs who fought with the English. Another sign that the two should become one?

P.P.S. Finally, for your enjoyment, a photo of my wild Irish rose outside an English pub  : – )

 

This morning at the scrake of dawn, I drove out to see the little plot of land my father, or as they say here, “me Da'” , bought many years ago. It commands one of the most scenic views in Donegal, which National Geographic recently described as the most beautiful place on earth,

I drank it in for a few moments and then as I drove off was reminded of the mad Irishman in the movie Braveheart  and like him………… “I had a word with the Almighty”

I noticed how many brand new homes were popping up all over the place on Horn Head. Mostly wealthy Germans no doubt. So I asked the Almighty my question,

“Why then were we refused building permission on our site?”

Me heavenly Da’ immediately answered the question with the other memorable line from the crazy Irishman,

“This is my island!”

In fact He went one step further bringing to my mind the apostle Paul’s words and reassuring me that,

“ALL things are yours” (1 Cor.3:21)

In a world where we are preoccupied with identifying ourselves as  possessing men and material things, this other madman, Paul, turns things completely on their head and says it’s everyone else who is crazy because they’ve got the question upside down! It is not that we should be possessed by anyone or anything, for the reality is that ….”whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world or life or death or the present or the future….ALL things are yours and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” (1 Cor.3:22,23)

“Well of course!” I chuckled, recalling how our Father had arranged this current get away through an invitation from good friends to stay in their beautifully restored old Irish cottage.

After driving for about 5 minutes I pulled in to park at my favorite beach in the world. I got out and wandered down to the water’s edge. As I plunged into the cool, clear Atlantic water…….one of life’s greatest pleasures, even in the month of May, I noticed that but for me, the vast strand was deserted.

“Aye, and I arranged for you to have the whole beach to yourself this morning too.” Me Da’ joked.

As I took a few strokes toward Breachy Head, and noticed the caravans, I remembered that one of our other friends had recently purchased one and had said to me just a few days before, “If you’d ever like to stay there…. just let us know.”

I arrived home exhilarated but exhausted and lay down for a nap. A couple of hours later I awoke to Hilary singing along to the O Ireland album playing in the background,

“This land’s not your land
This land’s not my land
This old Ireland
This island in the sea
Don’t belong to you nor me
O for eyes to see it lies in His hands
It lies in His hands”

Ah! Me disgustingly extravagant Da’ s very fond of me…..and d’ye know somethin’?… He’s every bit as fond of you : – )

P.S. I honestly was on my own at the beach. Hilary took this photo of me there a few days before.

P.P.S. I was lead to a particular coffee shop in Belfast I’d never been in before, to finish this blog off. As I was about to leave, a cousin sitting at a nearby table spotted me and came over. Her greeting? “Ah You’re awful like yer Da’!”

 

While having breakfast with our friends Roy and Rosemary Millar yesterday Hilary noticed a little bird in their back garden in what appeared to be a cage.

“No, that’s not a cage” Roy said. “It’s a feeder. The birds are able to fly in, eat the seed, and then fly out again.”

The happy finch now refueled took off in flight towards Belfast Lough. We too having  feasted on Rosemary’s ‘healthy’ version of the deadly Ulster fry set off in the same direction for a stroll along the shoreline.

The wide-ranging conversation between Roy and I, two former doctors, turned to the world’s ills.

Roy mentioned Victor Frankl, holocaust survivor and founder of “logotherapy”. In Frankl’s best selling book “Man’s Search for Meaning” he chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate, which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most brutal ones, and thus, a reason to continue living.

Roy quoted the figure of 60% of all illness being traceable to people failing to find purpose in life.

He recalled the story of the Ten Boom sisters, also concentration camp inmates. Corrie, author of The Hiding Place, told of how it was her older sister Betsy’s trust in a God who worked all things together for good, (even the lice, which kept the German guards at bay!) who was the inspiration for her survival and subsequent fruitfulness as a witness of Christ throughout her long life.

I recalled another elderly lady and ‘hero of faith’ we had just visited. Maureen had left with her new husband for Africa soon after they married. They both knew that the doctors had said that given Jim’s poor health, a move to the climate of Malawi, or Nyasaland as it then was, would be a fatal decision. Convinced this was how they were being lead, they went anyway. Jim outlived the doctors predictions but still died as a relatively young man. Maureen stayed on identifying fully in language and living with her new African ‘family’  When she finally retired and returned to Northern Ireland her daughter brought her along to our community where she experienced the power of the Spirit in community. “I have to go back and bring this new dimension of the ‘good news’ to my people” she said, and so instead of winding down to enjoy a well earned rest in her later years she found a job back in her beloved Malawi and became a door for others to go and serve her family there.

I remember the first meeting we had with the local leaders there being told, “Whatever our mother Maureen tells us….we will do!” such was the respect in which she was held.

As we entered the common area of the Belfast nursing home she had just moved to, we realized this could not be an easy transition from her last assisted living situation. There she was surrounded by others who were mentally alert but because of her physical limitations she now found herself wheelchair bound and the only ‘lucid’ person in the room. When she saw us walk in her countenance brightened!

We moved to a  more private space. “It’s the fellowship I miss.” she said, “……but I shouldn’t complain. they are very good to me here.”  We talked for a while recounting God’s faithfulness in our lives and when the time came came to leave, I said, “Can we pray together?” “Oh yes please” Maureen beamed.

As her head turned upwards, eyes closed, her face was transformed into the most beautiful visage one could imagine, and  as she opened her mouth to speak to the one she loved, oh so much, volumes of thanksgiving and praise, that delighted little bird took flight from what looked to us like a cage, and soared into the clear blue sky…………

 

 

I was sitting at a red light and out of the corner of my eye noticed the young man in the car next to me. As our eyes locked I gestured a greeting. I could see he had  that Mel Gibson fighting Celt, “Ya wanna pick a fight?” look. So to ensure, as they say in Belfast, that I wouldn’t “get me head in me hands.” I wound down the window and in a friendly tone enquired, ” ‘Bout ye mate?’

“Not too well!” he replied gruffly, lifting a crutch up to the open window.

The lights turned green, and so in the split second remaining I sped off delivering as a  parting shot, “May you be healed!!”

I’ve no idea whether he wanted to take a swing at me with his crutch for a bad pun or whether he received it as the genuine blessing I intended.

Immediately the scripture came to mind from the KJV, “Be instant in season and out of season.”

The brief exchange had been both instant and instinct.

Later when I researched further the Greek work here for “instant”, I discovered an alternative rendering was, “Be present”  To which I would add…….to the Christ in you and to the Christ at all times all around you, that grace might flow in every instant from a heart instinct as we connect to the grace that at all times and in all things enables us to abound in every good work……even as we’re abounding up the Newtownards Road in our car : – )

At the end of that road I came to my friend’s house where I found the sign I posted above, on the door.

“Ha!….only in Belfast!” I thought again : – ))

I was about to end this brief blog here, but then checked my email. Here’s what Greg from our fellowship in Minneapolis had just sent me….. another motoring story with the same punchline.

“I had a long conversation with an 80 year old man while my oil was getting changed. Our conversation spanned many subjects, politics, life, death, and technology. One thing he said stood out to me. He told me he always drives “a nice cool 60” on the freeway and watches everyone speed by him. He told me “The devil tells us to speed up, God tells us to slow down.” He told me that I made his day by taking the time to talk with him for an hour rather than staring at my phone. His words were a good reminder to me in this busy time to stay present with God and the people around me. “

This reminded me of a dream I had this morning in which I was returning from a  trip to take charge of a large community for which I had responsibility. I recognized some anxiety within myself about whether things had gone well in my absence. The anxiety grew when I met and engaged in conversation with a man delaying me even more.  However after leaving him I had a reassurance from Father that giving my attention to this man was all I needed to do…….and the anxiety about the “big deal” had left.

I felt the blog was now complete and looking up at the wall of Abby and Stephen’s home where we are staying saw the sign on their wall

P.S. Last week I didn’t blog because the computer went caput! Fortunately (the last) Adam (he said there were several before him!) in the Apple store, helped me reset and restore what had been lost…….Mmmm there’s another lesson in that!